St. Lucie News Tribune from Fort Pierce, Florida • 14

B6 THE TRIBUNE THURSDAY DECEMBER 31 1998 WJFP-FM moving studio across town Keep your eyes open when dealing with Arena Partner Co corporation that owns the station WJFP plays a mix of religious and community programs and music from jazz to old and new rap hip-hop soul and was the reaction of Joe Jenkins the station's operations manager when he heard WJFP was moving Jenkins is responsible for on-air programming and the 2 to 6 pm drive-time show one of the station's most popular shows Jenkins surrounded by a new control board tape decks and microphones said the move went pretty smoothly and that the new site is a good one for the station more professional Jenkins said on the air that's the bottom Kassis said happened Ibesday but a few pieces of equipment be removed from the old location until today The move kept WJFP off the air for about 35 seconds early TU-nday afternoon while an engineer turned off the old transmitter at Orange Avenue and switched on the one at North US 1 Kassis said WJFP bought new equipment for the new location including a new on-site transmitter which relays its signal to its 6000-watt main transmitter The staff seriously considered five properties including a warehouse on North 25th Street in an industrially zoned area But even though someone could repair cars there the zoning does not allow a radio station Doug Trapp Wwtuwpwimat FORT PIERCE After five years on the west side of Fort Pierce WJFP-FM is on the other side of town The community radio station was born at a small house at 5807 Orange Ave about five years ago It had an option to renew its five-' year lease but the home's owner notified the station about three months ago that he wanted to use the house for his bail bond business instead said Ray Kassis technical director So after looking at several possible sites for a couple weeks the station settled on a second- floor office at a shopping center at the corner of North US 1 at North A1A The signal transfer Internet bank caters to gays and lesbians THI AMOCWT1B PIIEtl PENSACOLA When banks refused to finance his idea for a I gay and lesbian resort Steven Dunlap scrapped it and decided to start a financial institution that would welcome homosexuals instead of spurn them The result is Bank the initials stand for gay and lesbian which Dunlap expects to open here in the spring pending final approval from federal regulators Not only would it be the nation's only bank whose target market is specifically to homosexuals it would be one of the first operating primarily via the Internet whole deal is to take banking away from you having to go to the bank and let us bring the bank to said Dunlap the chairman He envisions gays and lesbians as an entry market but not the sole customer base like Federal Express is doing to overnight delivery I expect to be the No 1 brand name in the Internet banking arena" Dunlap said going to sort of forget potentially what this that's OK because it all worked out for the best we really like this Kassis said Besides new equipment the station gained 900 square feet of breathing room and 600 square feet of storage space The old location offered less than 1000 square feet of space Since it went on the air WJFP has gained sister stations at 1071 FM in West Palm Beach and 939 FM in Cocoa Beach forming a network from one end of the Treasure Coast to the other all part of our plan to reach communities that have a significant African-American said Kassis also known as Ray from Kassis' wife Kim is the president of Black Media Works Inc the non-profit Ths Assodatad Prsss if they have some value added beyond traditional banking products I think it will be very difficult to make Banking on the Internet should help Dunlap keep costs down while expanding his business but even in cyberspace big banks like Chase Manhattan and First Union are spending big bucks to connect to customers you're a little guy trying to compete with that going to be very Ball said hurt US banks Arena Partner is an inactive Florida corporation located in Broward County that promotes the sale of mattresses by holding these little get-togethers at area restaurants This company has been the source of a myriad of complaints and in most cases has not refunded consumers' money as promised looking at the most current complaint from a senior-citizen couple that attended a sponsored by Arena at one of the Norris's restaurants in September This couple ended up authorizing a purchase via their American Express card for a $580 magnetic mattress pad Folks think about it the language used in this advertising material really should give you pause Here's a sampling in case your newspaper's comic section has been misplaced: negative magnetic field can also function like an antibiotic in helping to destroy bacterial fungal and viral a few months of sleeping in a negative pad the woman found that she could walk a long flight of cashmere comes from the mountain goats of Kashmir These animals are caressed with a brush instead of cutting the fibers They actually enjoy it it is just like brushing your favorite you just picture these little goats all lined up waiting to be so your mattress pad can be made? Are they cute or what? Come on people get with the program here Flowery language in a brochure is my No 1 reason to throw it in the trash And you guys are actually attending meetings putting yourselves in the position of having to listen to the talk all offered you free food? So you get a $6 meal but end up spending hundreds for a mattress pad Oh yeah makes sense And you already know I'm a type gal and so far I've not come across any convincing research on the beneficial health effects of magnets If a believer and want to convince me let me know where you obtained your proof While my husband was alive he would take his car to Goodyear for service as he had a Goodyear credit card I continued doing this after his death Steven Dunlap chairman of the proposed Bank left and Kay Griffith president check out the bank's Web page in Pensacola The bank's initials stand for and and if approved by federal regulators it would be the only financial institution in the United States catering specifically to homosexuals and one of the first operating primarily via the Internet Ellen Mancini Consumer Affairs Recently I took the car in for an oil change and for them to check on why I was having trouble putting it in reverse That night they called me and told me the car was fixed and the repair bill was $700! The next morning they called and said the bill was now $1495 The Goodyear card was canceled when my husband died so to pay for the repair I would have to get a loan I also wanted to obtain a copy of the service order They told me the best they could do would be to take a little off the bill I'm 83 and just need help with this MV Stuart A What was this shop thinking? There was nothing signed by the customer which is fine under state law as long as the repairs were not expected to exceed $100 Any shop with a little common sense considering the magnitude of the job would know to get the customer back in to sign the repair older BEFORE the repair is performed MV went in for a oil change and then got hit with two rear drum brake overhauls ($287) replacement of front disc brake pads ($126) a wheel alignment ($45) installation of both left and right front drive axles (around $500) and assorted other items I called to talk with Goodyear headquarters in Akron and Barbara Murphy was immediately attentive Tb make it short MV got her car back minus the new equipment but with the old stuff put back on and it seems to be running fine Goodyear has a dynamite Customer Relations division and has earned our of the award Ellen Mancini is an assistant state attorney in charge qf the Consumer Business Assistance Division in Fort Pierce She can be reached at 4 65-3000 Regulators give OK for Amoco merger tws associated wrest WASHINGTON British Petroleum Co and Amoco Corp said they will complete their $53 billion merger Thursday after winning regulatory approval from the Federal Tirade Commission The FTC said Wednesday it voted 4-0 to approve the deal after the companies agreed to address antitrust concerns by selling 134 gasoline stations and nine petroleum terminals They also agreed to give owners of more than 1600 gasoline stations in 30 cities permission to end their contracts FTC Chairman Robert Pitof-sky said the agency was satisfied that operations of these two companies rarely overlap in a way that threatens Formal FTC approval becomes final after a 60-day comment period The stock merger announced Aug 11 is among the largest in history Chicago-based Amoco is the fifth-largest oil company with roughly 9300 gasoline stations London-based British Petroleum the world's third-largest oil company sells its products through a network of about 17900 stations Shares of both companies were falling Wednesday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange Amoco was off $3 or by 52 percent at $55 a share and BP was down $618 or by 69 percent at $8375 In a joint statement British Petroleum and Amoco said they will complete the merger at 4 pm EST Thursday when US markets close The companies had previously said they wanted to complete the deal by end set ourselves the demanding target of closure by BP Chief Executive John Browne and Amoco Chairman Larry Fuller said in a statement are delighted that we will achieve that and in the process set a new record of 100 working days for the completion of such a large and complex Russian debt failure not likely to stands Niche banks however like many small banks tend to have a tough time competing against giants like Citibank and Bank of America The financial services industry is extremely competitive margins are thin and profits are usually made on volume If service or high-quality customer care is something they can charge for maybe they can make said Brad Ball a banking analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston NeWaYoriT Bonds loans that must creditors Bank of lenders had no The bank had the end of June Under a was granted a which it only But the latest grace period not clear payment constitutes more than 70 new bonds instead known percent of its plan to avoid In a Mess With The IRS? be repaid to more than 600 commercial worldwide America the payment agent for the immediate comment on the situation $412 million outstanding to Russia at 1996 restructuring agreement Russia grace period through 2002 during has to make debt service payments payment due Dec 29 after a 15-day was not made whether failure to make the a default Russia maintains that percent of debt holders agreed to accept of cash while the creditors' committee as the London Gub maintains that 95 members needed to approve such a calling the payment failure a default rm associated wm NEW YORK failure to make a debt payment to commercial banks worldwide this week further hurt top US banks since most wrote off their Russian debts months ago economists said Wednesday But this effective default would give banks an even stronger case for denying crucial new loans to help rouse the country from its crisis analysts and economists in London and New York said US bank is going to be extremely cautious about getting involved with Russia in the near said James McDermott chairman of banking analysts Keefe Bruyette Woods in New York is persona non grata as a Russia failed Hiesday to make a $363 million cadi interest payment on $26 billion worth of Soviet-era CALL Certified Public Accountant Fred Nabutovsky (561) 287-1688 I go the IRS fur yuul I negotiate payinenlel MimI iay tmly an all nla they owel Free Coneullatlonl Flee pick up and delivery! irience who can rtprutni you fg Uajmmti owe 2SCE SSBS A local CPA with over 25 yean before the IRS help solve your problem by negotiant possibly for a small percentage of max you V1 Spot ftentw EMMA no ifflUO Whbw Uotd(tKy oz apoi) Copper (pound) £W3 106900 NC8E Ntw York Cotton 6uyir 8 Exchan NCTN Newtork Cofem ccnan.